Advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Leadership of Competed Space Missions (2022) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
5 Barriers and Opportunities in NASA Space Missions
5 Barriers and Opportunities in NASA Space Missions
Pages 81-91
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 81... ...
1 In June 2021, the National Academies contracted with NORC at the University of Chicago to design and complete a qualitative study of the experiences of scientists who have submitted space mission proposals to the NASA SMD. Data collection, which took place between August 2021 and September 2021, consisted of 29 individual, semi-structured interviews with scientists who had prepared and submitted at least one space mission to the NASA SMD as a PI from 2010-present.
|
From page 82... ...
Each of these questions relates to a potential barrier to diversity among competed space missions PIs. The following discussion of potential barriers draws on the social science and educational research literature on participation barriers for women and minorities in professional endeavors Structural Institutional/ Organizational Interpersonal Intrapersonal FIGURE 5.1 Framework for understanding the interactional nature of factors impacting diversity and inclusion.
|
From page 83... ...
These encompass large-scale societal factors like public policy, ideology, lore, culture, history, systems of oppression, and deeply entrenched, widely shared gendered and racialized beliefs about which groups are capable of doing science and deserving of the opportunity to be educated and participate in STEM. Barriers that operate at the structural level shape the demographics of the pool of prospective PIs of competed space missions by constraining the pathways to and through STEM higher education and by shaping career opportunities (see Chapters 2 and 4)
|
From page 84... ...
. The concentration of racially minoritized and women physics faculty in non-PhD-granting departments and the clustering of Black faculty in HBCUs is a structural barrier to advancing diversity among the leadership of competed space missions because these institutions are under-resourced and possess significantly smaller research infrastructures in the space sciences and other STEM fields compared to larger research universities.
|
From page 85... ...
Moreover, given the racialized patterns of where today's faculty are employed and where degree earners in Science Mission Directorate (SMD) -related fields are educated, historical underinvestment 3% HWIs 7% 18% 72% n =730 HWI 3% HBCUs 15% 67% 15% n =33 HBCU 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Both Black and Latinx faculty Black faculty but no Latinx faculty Latinx faculty but no Black faculty Neither Black nor Latinx faculty FIGURE 5.2 Proportion of physics departments at HBCUs and HWIs with African Americans and Latinx faculty in 2008.
|
From page 86... ...
Respondents cited the vitally important role of the site visit during the proposal submission process and expressed the significant amount of preparation and institutional resources and support necessary to plan and execute a successful site visit. Given that women physics faculty and Black and Latinx physics faculty are more likely to be employed at non-PhD-granting institutions, HBCUs, and other MSIs compared to White and Asian male physics faculty, the modest research infrastructures, lower levels of research funding and administrative structures to support STEM research at these institutions,4 are barriers that disproportionately impact faculty from historically underrepresented groups as they pursue leadership positions on competed space missions.
|
From page 87... ...
This idea that only a select group of individuals are qualified to become PIs may reinforce the status quo maintaining the same group of PIs to dominate the competed space missions. Respondents also believed that the feedback they received on why their proposal was not selected did not seem to reflect some of the perceived hidden criteria regarding PI status and reputation.
|
From page 88... ...
From the perspective of researchers who aspired to be PIs, but were not integrated through their graduate training or through the sponsorship of a collaborator, the scientific community engaged in competed space missions were viewed as nearly impenetrable. Aspirant PIs not incorporated into these social networks had to go to great lengths to gain entry including cold calling, scoping out "power brokers" at conferences, and otherwise investing a great deal of time and effort just to have access to the social network.
|
From page 89... ...
. Given deeply entrenched social hierarchies and systems of power and privilege, implicit biases can have a disproportionately negative effect on women, racially minoritized individuals and other marginalized groups, the very populations that have been historically excluded from and remain underrepresented in STEM fields, including the space sciences.
|
From page 90... ...
In the commissioned qualitative study, respondents who experienced positive mentorship experiences reported that these were foundational to their early sense of belonging in the field. Effective mentors introduced their mentees to "powerful players" in their network and helped them decipher the mission proposal process and understand proposal timelines.
|
From page 91... ...
Finding: Prospective PIs from historically excluded populations reported that interpersonal interactions with others in their field undermined their sense of belonging and fueled experiences of imposter phenomenon, making the path to leadership of competed space missions more difficult. Similarly, incongruence between the messages about "what it takes" to be a PI and prospective PI's self-perceptions erected barriers along the pathway to competed space mission leadership positions.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.